bikermon wrote: would love to hear comments from others on how they learned to read and spell correctly!!!

As to reading : my mother read to me then my first grade teacher Sister Rose Ignatius SND was a believer in phonics way back then in the mid-1930s, despite pressures to do otherwise.

As to spelling : It was drummed into my dear little ear during elementary grades by the good Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur via spelling memorization, spelling tests, quizzes, (I will never forget how to spell bicycle after mangling it in a quizz) instruction in how to use a dictionary, and deductions in overall score for anything written if words mis-spelled. It worked.
wow